The full line was "I cannae change the laws of physics... I've got to have 30 minutes"...
I always thought it would have been funny if the line had been used in "Who Mourns for Adonsis" with Scotty in bed with Lt. Palamas, responding to her question "That was great Scotty, ready for another go?"

Nah. It's pretty obvious that William Shatner snuck in and stole them, then sabotaged the flight to cover his tracks. The poor guy. So broke he had to resort to doing crummy tv commercials and now this:(

From Wikipedia:
Almost two years after his death, approximately one-quarter ounce (7 grams) of Doohan's ashes were sent into space, as he had requested in his will. The ashes, along with those of Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper as well as almost 200 others, were launched on the SpaceLoft XL rocket, on April 28, 2007, when the rocket briefly entered outer space in a four-minute suborbital flight before parachuting to earth, as planned, with the ashes

While this may be the geek in me, I would be honored if my ashes were sent up. Even if the vessel carrying them did not make it all the way up. Least this way my ashes are scattered in the most efficient way possible if/when the rocket goes Kaboom.

...

Sides with any luck some of my ashes will have drifted down and ended up in someone's soup. Eat me!

I dunno, there is some degree of 'special' in one's ashes being allowed to be packed away in what limited and valuable cargo space many of our rockets are currently restricted to. It is not so much superstition as it is a perceived privledge of being allowed to stow-away on the rocket.

IF you're asking about scattering of ashes. I have no idea. I just like the idea of being sprinkled everywhere. Just a personal preference. That and the thought of having my descendants having to maintain my jar is just

The answer actually lies in your own use of language. Symbolism is the use of pattern matching to make one event mimic another. Pattern matching is the core of our sense of beauty, so these things are inherently beautiful to us.

Superstition involves allowing your behavior to be altered by unprovable connections. We aren't changing our behavior for symbolism any more than necessary to wonder at the entertaining symmetries.

I agree. The fact that the ashes were lost by a company whose eventual aim is to populate the solar system kinda makes the failure okay. I'm saying the noble intent of the rocket company offsets any sort of negative points towards the metaphor of having ones ashes launched into orbit. Just the fact that they were launched *towards* space is something that makes me happy... I think it's a good way to see Scotty go... to boldly go, even.

In a strange way, I see it as a fitting end to Mr. Doohan's physical form. He inspired countless young people to pursue careers in the sciences, and then, even after leaving this world, continues to inspire.

I know that the body is not the person, and I would like to think that his spirit lives on. At least in this way he can be thought of as being everywhere. Scotty was a fictional character, but through that character James Doohan inspired so many people to believe in themselves.

I agree with you, but I have gone faraway with "Scotty" and the other actors interpretation.
And as a software developer, "Scotty" always was a inspiration point where look to a good quality job. Or to find something that solved the problem, with or without physics laws (computer users ignore the most basic principles...)

More depressing is that people care about anybody's ashes at all. It's just some worthless carbon/nitrogen/hydrogen/oxgygen/etc leftovers; the valuable pattern of mind was lost (without backup) long ago.

I think you make a valid point. Gordo Cooper is certainly worthy of mention, if someone is going to cover this story.

But "absolutely depressing"? I don't come away with that, myself. Star Trek was a HUGELY popular TV show, that thrived against all odds at the time. For a while there, props were literally being created from stuff dug out of garbage dumpsters, due to a lack of funds. Its creator had a real vision and message of hope to express. It wasn't just another crappy sit-com cranked out to make a buck or two. It,arguably, did more to spark people's imaginations about the possibilities for space travel than anything else at the time. I can't prove it, but I sure would't be at all surprised to find that many of NASA's current and former employees would list Star Trek as one of their inspirations growing up.

Well, I hope he's have a final mission anyways.
The current enginner may be afraid on giving excuses to Scotty personaly.
Gordon Cooper, astronaut from the original Mercury 7 was there too.
Now, they are anywhere, "lost in space" Will...
(sorry bad english).

This is the second time James Doohan's ashes have been lost by a spacecraft. The first was mentioned on Slashdot http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/10/2249214 [slashdot.org] about a year go. His remains were lost after a sub-orbital craft landed in an inaccessible area in New Mexico. Last time his remains were eventually retrieved. Third times a charm?

The average weight of cremated remains for an adult male is six pounds according to Wikipedia, but weight is so limited in these rocket launches that they're only sending an ounce or two of the remains each time.

Launch 1: Failure
Launch 2: Failure
At this point, who the hell decided that "third time's the charm" and it would be a good idea to load it up with pricey satellites and irreplaceable human relics?
Lunch 3: Spectacular Failure
Here's an idea: how about we let Space X get at least ONE successful test launch under their belt before we start entrusting them with our payload?

There's a huge misconception most people seem to have about this story, so I figured I'd repost my comment [slashdot.org] from the previous SpaceX story:

It's worth noting though that Celestis, the company which offers the service for placing a person's cremated remains on a space launch, only uses a tiny portion of the ashes on a particular launch. From their FAQ:

We offer the launch of a symbolic portion of the cremated remains as a memorial service, not final disposition of all the remains, because although dramatic progress is being made by entrepreneurs in reducing launch costs, spaceflight is still quite expensive. By launching a portion we can offer an affordable service, and also can provide performance assurance.

We will arrange for final disposition of the balance of the cremated remains through a sea scattering service, should you so desire.

Space launches are challenging. What if the orbit is not achieved?

In the event that the Celestis Earth Orbit Service spacecraft does not achieve orbit, we will -- at no additional cost -- place a second sample of the cremated remains aboard our next scheduled mission.

Too bad he didn't make it to space though. Woulda been a fitting tribute. It's ironic that he'd have his ashes destroyed as the ship exploded after being immortalized for saving ships from said explosions.

Falcon 1 flight 3 was lost during the attempted separation of the second stage. The previous attempts were stymied by a fuel leak (flight 1) and a loss of control following second stage separation (flight 2).